The present invention relates to lighting fixtures and more particularly to an improvement in die cast lighting fixtures.
Lighting fixtures are conventionally supplied with means for drawing the cable feeding the fixture into the fixture from various different positions. This permits the fixture to be hung in any one of several possible orientations. Where the fixtures are formed of sheet metal, the fixture cable openings are partially cut in the sheet metal thereby defining knockouts which can easily be removed in the field by an electrician after he determines which knockout or knockouts provide the best entry for passing wires or mounting studs.
Heretofore, there has been no equally convenient way to provide openings or holes for passing wires or mounting studs through die cast fixtures. The usual way this was done with die cast fixtures was to cast undercut recesses at each hole location leaving a relatively thin thickness of metal around the perimeter of each proposed hole. In the field, the electrician had to break or fracture the die cast part at the thin section to define the hole. Unfortunately, this is not a very satisfactory arrangement since often the wall of the casting breaks out next to the hole or a ragged edge is left around the hole which could tear the insulation on the wiring drawn therethrough thus resulting in a hazardous and dangerous condition.
As an alternate to the above approach, some die cast fixtures are provided with "drill points" in place of the above described undercut recesses. In this type of fixture, small conical recesses are cast in the wall of the fixture to help the installer locate and drill each hole as needed. The obvious shortcoming of this arrangement is that it requires that the electrician, prior to installing the fixture, drill holes as required in the field. This method is thus both time consuming and burdensome and therefore costly.
In view of the above, it is the principal object of the present invention to provide an improved die cast lighting fixture in which any of several wiring holes may be made accessible by the installer in the field simply and easily.